2006 MICHIGAN SOLO COMPETITION WINNER GIVES PERFORMANCE AT MMC
submitted by Dan Long, MASTA Solo Competition Chair

Barbora Kolárová, violin, performed at the MASTA General Membership meeting, which was part of the MMC conference on January 26th in Grand Rapids. Ms. Kolarova’s performance included works by J.S. Bach and F. Kreisler. She was the 2006 MASTA Junior Division Solo Competition winner, receiving the SHAR MUSIC AWARD.

Ms. Kolárová (b. 1988) began studying violin at the age of six and is currently a student of Ida Kavafian at Curtis Institute of Music. Her former teachers include Stephen Shipps, Pavel Prantl with whom she studied at Pilsen Conservatory, and Charles Avsharian with whom she studied at Michigan State University in 2006/2007.

In 1999 Ms. Kolárová won the International “Remember Enescu” Competition in Bucharest, Rumania and was a laureate of the International Telemann Competition in Poznan, Poland, in 2003. She has twice won the Prague Junior Note Competition and has been a prizewinner at the Kocian International Competition in the Czech Republic several times. In 2007 she was a semifinalist at the ASTA National Solo Competition held in Detroit. She won the “Little Golden Nut” Television Competition established by Dagmar Havlová, the wife of former President Václav Havel.

Barbora Kolárová currently performs as a soloist with the Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and the West Bohemia Orchestra. In 2003, she performed Saint-Saens’ Concerto in b- Minor with the Prague National Theatre Orchestra in the framework of the Young Prague International Music Festival. Together with her two sisters and mother she performed Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins with Musici di Praga Orchestra. In 2004 she was chosen to perform the Haydn Concerto with Prague Philharmonic Chamber orchestra at Haydn Festival in Belgium and Germany. In October 2007 she toured throughout the USA playing the Mozart Concerto A Major and D major with Prague Chamber Orchestra.

Since 2002 she has been a scholarship student at Meadowmount Summer School of Music where she studies with Prof. Charles Avsharian and has performed several solos and played in chamber concerts. In 2004 she was a student of the renowned teacher, Mr. Rugiero Ricci.

From 1997-2007 she was a principal player in the youth folk music ensemble “Noticky” (“Little Notes”) and has recorded two CDs, a video clip and a fairy tale on video-cassette. She took part in a Czech TV show, at Czech Broadcasting shows and at the World-Fest in the U.S.A. in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.